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Talk about joints popping.. Our dog has the same problem... Makes me cringe when I hear it. I followed her up the stairs the other day and Pop, pop with each step, then I realized half of those pops were my knees! And I realized when my knees pop, it doesn't hurt, so maybe all this popping does not hurt her so bad either. It'd the old arthritis that is worse for her, pain wise. Now when we go outside, she will not go through the door until I have a leash on her. Like she has accepted things as they are.
 
Fletcher goes in for surgery next Thursday the 27th. Thankfully not for total hip replacement. Rather he will undergo a procedure called TPO in which they cut the pelvic bone in three places and relocate a portion of the pelvis to better mate with the femur. It is an 'out patient' procedure so we will be home the same day. One to two weeks till he can put his full weight on it, three to six months for full recovery after which he will have no pain, no lameness and full mobility. We are a bit rushed because his age, 10 months, is at the upper max to qualify for this procedure. His right hip is not as bad and will be managed with regular check ups, x-rays, and dietary supplements. Arthritis is likely but should be several years away.

Though not cheap at $6,000, TPO is half the cost of the total hip replacement and for that we are very thankful.

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What a long day? We dropped Fletcher off at the surgeon at 9 AM and picked him up at 5 PM. He now has several steel pins, screws, and a steel plate in his hip. The ride home was a long 2 hours as he could not seem to find a comfortable position to lie in. Once we carried him into the house and laid him on a blanket he was able to get into a position that was more comfortable and the whining stopped and he was able to rest. It’s going to be a long two weeks till the stitches come out and the cone comes off. He’ll be on medication that will slow him down and stifle his active Nature to give things a chance to heal. If all goes well we should see a complete recovery in about 10 weeks.
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10 days since the surgery - the sutures came out this morning, not a peep from the little guy. He was absolutely great about not licking or biting at his incision so we let him go without the cone after the first day. He has progressed remarkably well and we have all we can do just keeping him from over working his remodeled hip joint. He has 8 more weeks of restricted activity before we can allow him off leash.

We start physical therapy (yep, that's a thing for dogs!) on the 21st of this month. The goal is to make sure the reconfigured joint is as strong as possible so to allow him to favor the other hip in order to avoid having a second operation. The right hip suffers the malady but only half as severe. With care, supplements, and regular monitoring we hope to avoid the need for surgery in the future.

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Just an update.

Fletcher has finished his physical therapy, is in his last few days of recovery, and nearly all restrictions have been lifted on his activities. Happy for him and us, no so much for the squirrels and chipmunks. We took him for his first bath today. There was a lot of snarling and nipping at first. We think that perhaps he had been tormented with a garden hose some time before he came to us (he gets very sheepish if you come towards him with a flyswatter also). Fortunately, once we allowed him to nip at the water and take a drink he settled down and allowed us to continue with the wash. Interesting note - this self service dog wash is attached to a local car wash. The wash is only $8 and has settings for disinfecting the bath mat, soap, conditioner, and a two speed blow dryer. Good deal as most groomers get around $50+.

One more follow up with the PT Vet on his hip operation and we also need to talk to her about another thing we caught during PT - his right front wrist turns out when sitting and standing - you can see it in the picture. God must have thought we needed something to keep us busy. :rofl:



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Glad to hear Fletcher has progressed well with the therapy. :thumb:

One of the coin-op car washes here used to have a dog wash attached, but I think it's closed now. I went once about 11 or 12 years ago and it was pretty run-down. Not nearly as nice as your place looks. Sure would be handy for my aching back and knees.
 
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